MOUNTAIN BIKER'S FOR WILDERNESS UPDATE - BOXER'S AND WILDERNESS
SUPPORTERS FRAUD EXPOSED!

Since we first broke this story about this fraud being perpetrated by
Senator Boxer and Wilderness proponents, they have continued to attempt
to fool the public into believing IMBA "Chapters" and the majority of
California mountain bikers have endorsed the wilderness bill. They
continue to use the following statement in their press release
http://www.mb4w.org/press_0730.htm:

". local International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) chapters in
San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Placer and Nevada counties
support proposals to protect potential Wilderness in their backyard.

We have an part of a column from the San Francisco Chronicle on our web
site, written by Tom Stienstra, who used this statement from their press
release in his article "MOUNTAIN BIKING GROUP WINS COUP" . Click here to
view the article and the update that exposed this fraud. Here is the
statement that Tom Stienstra used in his story taken from the press
release.

"In turn, several chapters of the International Mountain Biking
Association have also announced support for the bill, including chapters
in Placer and Nevada counties in Northern California, and Santa Barbara
and San Diego counties in southern California."

Senator Boxer is continuing to perpetuate this deception by posting this
endorsement on her web site at
http://boxer.senate.gov/senate/b_2535.html with the statement "Mountain
Bikers Announce Support For California Wild Heritage Act."

As anyone who is familiar with IMBA knows, IMBA does not have "chapters"
they have affiliated clubs. There's no such thing as an IMBA "chapter."
The clubs don't support the wilderness bill. How do I know? The
presidents of these "IMBA chapters," I mean clubs, are members of the
Warrior's Society.

This is a deliberate attempt by Boxer and her wilderness supporters to
fool the public into thinking IMBA and the majority of California
mountain biker's support the wilderness bill.

When our Santa Monica representative, Jennifer Klausner, first received
the press release from an aide to Senator Boxer in late July, we emailed
them at the address provided (mb4wletter@hotmail.com .), and asked them
to prove that the San Diego and Santa Barbara "chapters" of IMBA support
the wilderness bill by sending out a statement from the presidents of
these clubs, Andy Darragh (San Diego Mountain Bike Association) and
Chuck Anderson (Santa Barbara Mountain Bike Trail Volunteers).

If you notice, their names aren't on the pro-wilderness petition on
their web site.

But it doesn't' stop there. In an attempt to add legitimacy to the press
release they quoted a representative from one of IMBA's corporate
sponsors, Patagonia, who were only too willing to take part in this
fraud.

Want proof? Read this statement from the "Mountain Bikers For
Wilderness" press release:

"Senator Boxer's Wilderness bill (S 2535) gives mountain bikers access
to their favorite trails, and protects important threatened wild
places," said John Sterling, Director of Environmental Programs at
Patagonia, Inc. "As a company that both makes mountain biking products
and employs avid mountain bikers, we fully support S 2535 - it's a
balanced and fair proposal."

Our researcher did speak at length with John Sterling at Patagonia to
confirm this statement. Those quotes on the MB4W press release are his.
He is also on the board of the California Wilderness Commission.
Patagonia's mission is to "protect the wilderness" Their methods can be
seen as zealous or terrorist depending on which side of the fence you
are on. He admitted that the MB4W is a recent thing, a response to IMBA
opposition to S 2535.

It is Patagonia's policy to support proposed wilderness areas.
Remember, wilderness advocates got only about a quarter of the land they
originally wanted in this bill, and I guarantee that in future bills
they will continue to seek these areas and others. They will not be
satisfied. Many of these areas do not qualify for wilderness but they
have continued to change the definition of wilderness to the point where
any area is wilderness if they think it is, not if it meets the original
requirements of the wilderness bill.

Since it is Patagonia's policy to support wilderness designations, it
would have endorsed the bill even if all the original proposed
wilderness areas were in it, which would have been devastating to
mountain biking in the National Forests. It would have resulted in the
loss of 99 percent of our riding areas here in Orange County. The San
Juan Trail would have been but a memory to the mountain bike community,
along with many other well known trails in the National Forest.

Patagonia is a corporate sponsor if IMBA while at the same time it
supports legislation that would be devastating to its members. As I
mentioned, it is Patagonia's policy to support every wilderness proposal
no matter how mountain bikers are affected. With friends like this who
needs enemies?

Several of our researchers provided the following info on who was behind
the group, "Mountain Bikers for Wilderness."

1. The Mountain Bikers For Wilderness organization was set up by Senator
Boxer and her supporters. The group claims to be mountain bikers, but
they are actually rafters and kayakers that want the Wild and Scenic
Rivers designations passed. We found this out by the meta tags in their
web page html code. These are used by search engines to help locate web.
References to paddling were in these codes.

The keywords on this web page are:

<META NAME="KEYWORDS" CONTENT="Mountain Bikers for Wilderness, MB4W,
Mountain Bikers 4 Wilderness, California Wilderness, Friends of the
River "> which shows that it has a Friends of the River connection. You
can expect this text to be dropped from the meta tags in the future.

The domain name is registered to Don Massie of Chico who registered the
site a week before the press release was made public.

A little more on Don Massie:
http://orovillerelicensing.water.ca.gov/pdf_docs/3-22-01_RecWGsum_att2.pdf
. He's listed on the adobe acrobat document listing the attendees at
a public meeting. He is listed as representing the Chico Paddleheads.

Chico Paddleheads axe to grind is apparently to stop the hydro dams on
the rivers N. Fork Feather River:
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=chico+paddleheads&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&selm=3553b262.7769120%40news.snowcrest.net&rnum=1

2. They are not an IMBA affiliated club, although now that we have
exposed them that may change in the near future. We, as true mountain
bike activists, haven't stooped to the level of starting a sham club of
kayakers to get press and sway those that aren't in the know. Instead,
we chose to fight our battles on the merit of a bill that eliminates
miles of mountain bike trails and is bad for cycling as a whole.

These types of tactics and corrupt methods used by Senator Boxer and her
supporter's shows her desperation. This is something to remember when
Senator Boxer comes up for re-election in 2 years.

In an email sent to the Warrior's Society on August 23rd, Jim Hasenauer
of IMBA wrote:

"I agree, we need to confront Boxer and the CWHC campaign to tell them
Mountain Bicyclists are not supporting bill yet.

The Mountain Bikers for Wilderness are certainly entitled to their
opinion, but they are not representative of the mountain bike community.

The four IMBA clubs that are identified as chapters (minor misstatement)
endorsed proposed wilderness in their areas after negotiating bicyclist
priorities. They did not endorse the bill (major misstatement)."

Jim is very gracious in describing this fraudulent press release by
Boxer and her supporters as "misstatements" instead of what they are, an
attempt to deceive the mountain bike community as well as the general
public. If nothing else, IMBA should realize by this fraud perpetrated
by Boxer and her supporters that they will stoop to any level of lies to
get this wilderness bill passed.

Let this be a lesson to the mountain bike community that the wilderness
advocates will not rest until they get all the designations they
originally wanted, if not now, in the future. Whether an area qualifies
for wilderness or not, they will seek this designation to the detriment
of sound forest policy and at the expense of our ability to prevent the
fires devastating our forests - as well as the recreational access of
the public.

Other alternative designations should be considered instead of the
Wilderness Designation.

We are thankful that our other California Senator, Diane Feinstein, has
taken no stance on Boxer's California Wilderness Bill. She has voiced
her concerns about the effects this bill will have on fire prevention
and fighting, rural counties, and recreational access. The corrupt
tactics of Senator Boxer and wilderness proponents should also cause her
concern.

What actions should you take?

A. Oppose the Wilderness bill

B. Vote Boxer out of office when she comes up for re-election in two
years

C. Boycott Patagonia.

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